In a departure from the past, India’s first full-time woman Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday, July 5, 2019, carried the Union Budget documents in a red bag, reminiscence of the traditional bahi-khata .
Earlier, Finance Ministers in different governments used to carry a briefcase to present budget, which was considered as a tradition of colonial past.
Ms. Sitharaman is presenting the full Budget for 2019-20. She is carrying the Budget documents in a red silk bag with national emblem.
During the Atal Behari Vajpayee government, the then Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha broke the one colonial tradition of budget presentation at 5 pm.
Since then all governments have been presenting the budget at 11 am.
Bahi-Khata is referred to books of account maintained by traditional Indian businessmen.
Commenting on the shift from a briefcase to bahi-khata , Chief Economic Advisor, Krishnamurthy Subramanian said the government is following “Indian tradition”.
It is in Indian tradition. It symbolises our departure from slavery of Western thought. It is not a Budget, but a Bahi-Khata (ledger).
Published - July 05, 2019 11:37 am IST
